Petition Process Underway for Additional Board Candidates

Feb

20

2019

Under the American Booksellers Association’s Bylaws, any bookstore member may submit petitions to have the names of additional candidates for Board officers and/or directors added to the ballot for the upcoming Board of Directors election. Upon receipt of valid petitions, additional director candidates will be added to the ballot alongside the four candidates put forth by the ABA Nominating Committee and approved by the Board at its January meeting. Those candidates are:

Cohen has not previously served on the ABA Board. Kleindienst and Morrow are coming to the end of their first three-year terms on the Board and are eligible for a second three-year term. Graham was serving the unexpired period of what would have been ABA President Robert Sindelar’s term as a Board member and is now eligible for a full term. All four are standing for election to three-year terms (2019–2022).

In a related action, the Board selected current ABA Vice President Jamie Fiocco of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for a two-year term as ABA president, and Graham of Politics and Prose to serve as ABA vice president/secretary. Their selection by the Board must be ratified by ABA membership.

Leaving the Board will be ABA Board President Robert Sindelar of Third Place Books, with three locations in the Seattle area, and Annie Philbrick of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Connecticut, and Savoy Bookshop & Café in Westerly, Rhode Island. Sindelar is coming to the end of his two-year term as president, and Philbrick is completing her second three-year term as director.

A ballot for the 2019 Board elections will be sent to ABA members via e-mail at the beginning of April, 60 days prior to the Annual Membership Meeting; the deadline for return of the ballots will be April 30. The ABA Membership Meeting will be held on May 30, 2019, at the Javits Convention Center during BookExpo. The ballot will include space for write-in candidates.

Under ABA Bylaws, any bookstore member may submit petitions to have the names of additional candidates for Board officers and/or directors added to the ballot. Should bookstore members wish to submit a petition, the following apply:

A candidate must be an employee or owner of an ABA member bookstore. The member bookstore must be in good standing, and the individual candidate must have at least three years’ experience in a bookstore-member company.

Each petition can present only one candidate and, to be valid, must name a candidate who meets the qualifications for office established under the Bylaws.

All petitions must be submitted by March 15, 2019, to the Chair, ABA Nominating Committee, c/o ABA, 333 Westchester Avenue, Suite S202, White Plains, New York 10604.

The names on the petition in support of the candidate must reflect at least two percent of ABA Bookstore Members as of January 1, 2019; that is a minimum of 25 signatures. The petition must contain original signatures and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of bookstore members in at least five states, with representatives of no one state constituting more than 50 percent of the total number of petition signatures.

Upon receipt of a valid petition, the candidate’s name will be added to the ballot sent to ABA membership.

Bookstore members who are working to circulate a petition are asked to contact BTW for future coverage in the newsletter.

Recent Issues

About ABA

The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.

Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.